If ever there was more proof needed that the Republican Party has been hijacked by extremists, look no further than the two recent debates held for the GOP’s presidential contenders. No, I’m not referring to what the
candidates said, although some of their remarks also would underscore my
point. Rather, I’m referring to the reaction of the audience at curiously inappropriate times.

If you listen to today’s Republican leaders, they will tell you that it’s because of high taxes and overzealous regulations that the economy is sluggish and the unemployment rate remains high. “Right now, America’s employers are afraid to invest in an economy ... hamstrung by uncertainty,” said House Speaker John Boehner
(R-West Chester) during a speech in August 2010. “The prospect of
higher taxes, stricter rules and more regulations has employers sitting
on their hands.”

Here’s something that the backward-thinking Luddites who oppose Cincinnati’s planned streetcar system won’t tell you: A plan to convert a rundown part of Seattle into a district targeted to attracting the so-called “creative class” has worked better than expected — and the success partially is due to a new streetcar system.

Forget about those last-minute summertime picnics, Labor Day fireworks and Halloween hayrides. I wish November would hurry up and arrive. That’s because it’s still 76 days away from the elections for Cincinnati City Council and the level of grandstanding by incumbents already has reached irritating proportions.

Cincinnati voters can tell it’s an election year by the blatant demagoguery and pandering that’s going on. Instead of getting busy and crafting its own budget proposal to suggest specific cuts to avoid a $33 million deficit next year, Cincinnati City Council’s conservative majority is wasting time grandstanding about a relatively insignificant issue to garner headlines.

After spending several weeks in the nation’s capital waiting for a chance to vote on a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown is glad to be back in Ohio. Brown, the Democrat from Avon, a Cleveland suburb on Lake Erie, was in Cincinnati this week to visit with constituents in this part of the state and meet with the media.

Here they go again. Just as Far Right conservatives in Congress created a crisis over the federal debt ceiling so they could advance their true goal of nibbling away at Social Security and Medicare, so are fringe factions closer to home using a backdoor maneuver to block Cincinnati’s mass transit options for the next decade or more.

Let’s connect the dots and see who is being more honest and straightforward in negotiations to raise the federal debt ceiling. (And for readers who think the debt ceiling fight doesn’t affect them, you’re just flat out wrong.) Boehner alleged the House had passed a plan, the “Cut, Cap and Balance Act,” with bipartisan support. That bill — which would cut current spending, cap the amount of future spending, require Congress to pass a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution and raise the federal debt ceiling — is based on highly questionable numbers.

Silence isn't always golden. There are plenty of unanswered questions surrounding the arrest of State Rep. Robert Mecklenborg (R-Green Township) on drunken driving charges, and Republican leaders are hoping the lawmaker's impending resignation will end the matter. The Enquirer has been helpful in keeping the matter under wraps.

In a letter sent July 8 to the Ethics Commission, attorney Tim Mara alleges that Towne Properties, a firm owned by the family of Councilman Chris Bortz, holds a 50-percent stake in a newly created firm established so the project could receive $21 million in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) from the city. City Council approved the TIF deal at its June 29 meeting, with Bortz abstaining from the vote.

Here are some important numbers that everyone who lives or works in Cincinnati should remember: 69, 84 and five. The first number, 69, represents 69 percent. That’s how much of the city’s General Fund budget is allocated to the Police and Fire departments. A mere 31 percent — less than one-third of the total — is allocated for non-public safety purposes.

Nearly a full decade after a charter amendment was approved that changed how police chiefs are selected, it’s being used for the first time. City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. announced June 28 that he’s selected a candidate from outside the current ranks to head the Cincinnati Police Department. Not only does the person selected have extensive experience dealing with gang-related violence and shootings in Los Angeles, but he also will be the Queen City’s first-ever African-American police chief.

Barack Obama, it seems, is unfamiliar with the Internet and the facts of life in the wired age. Or maybe he just hopes no one is paying attention. In his feeble attempts to justify the continued U.S. military involvement in NATO’s efforts to oust Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi from power, Obama is directly contradicting numerous statements he made in the past about the abuse of presidential power by his predecessor, George W. Bush.

Back in January 2001, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) was estimating the nation was on course to have a negative net indebtedness beginning in 2006, partially due to various fiscal policies put into place by President Clinton. They included a tax increase on upper-income taxpayers that was approved during his first year in office, coupled with some spending cuts and increases in tax collections on items like capital gains that were sparked by the then-booming economy.

People who closely follow the budget troubles plaguing City Hall for the past couple of years know that Cincinnati City Council had to make numerous cuts to services last winter to avoid a $54.7 million deficit. Those cuts originally included eliminating residential yard waste collection, ending funding for nurses in public schools and keeping most of the city-owned swimming pools closed this summer.